The TCCC Projected to Become a “New Paradigm for Database Research in Thyroid Cancer”

Posted on February 25, 2015January 5, 2018

A cancer registry is a database which collects a comprehensive dataset of disease characteristics, care outcomes, and quality of care. These registries can be a “powerful tool for research” and aim to provide a greater understanding of disease biology which leads to improvements in treatments and better outcomes. There is particular need for a portable, inter-institutional, thyroid cancer registry for the following reasons: 1) Thyroid cancer is increasing in incidence. 2) Thyroid cancer care often involves coordination of physicians of different specialties. 3) Thyroid cancer can be found in younger populations – these patients may be likely to switch jobs and move geographic locations. 4) Significant controversies exist in the optimal treatment of thyroid cancer patients. The article, “Database and Registry Research in Thyroid Cancer: Striving for a New and Improved National Thyroid Cancer Database,” published in the February 2015 issue of Thyroid, highlights the TCCC for its unique features, such as its web-based platform and its comprehensive collection of pathology data, and its potential to become “a new paradigm for database research in thyroid cancer.”